May 2013: Letter from the editor

I will never be perfect.

This realization struck me on a recent vacation as I was thumbing through a Martha Stewart cookbook.  (There’s no one like Martha to make you feel inadequate, is there? She is even perfect at that.)

I am not sure where this feeling of self-acceptance suddenly bubbled up from, or why. But it has given me a new outlook on dressing. I am much more sure that my choices are right for me. And I am letting go of the belief that I should wear something because I should.

“Striving for perfection does seem like a form of self-hatred,” cover girl Isla Fisher tells features editor Elio Iannacci in “Feeling Jazzed” (page 146). Ironic, then, that her day with photographer Chris Nicholls in Los Angeles produced so many incredible shots, it pained us to edit them down to just a handful.

Fisher is one of the many fascinating women in our annual Age Issue. This year, our youngest model is a 12-month-old budding shoe fiend (“Born Identity,” page 67) while our oldest, at 68, is legendary Canadian Donna DeMarco (“Animal Attraction,” page 150). And how inspiring is it to learn that 66-year-old performance artist Marina Abramović is BFFs with one of the most modern-minded designers of our day, Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci?  She also stars in Givenchy’s spring campaign, telling Iannacci in “The Age of Abramović” (page 119), “Fashion campaigns are what you are supposed to do when you are 18. I’m never doing things when I’m supposed to.”

We don’t believe in age appropriateness either. Still, we have to find some way to help you navigate the many fashion choices out there. So market editor Caitlan Moneta has waded through the season’s many florals and put together looks divided by decade (“Full Bloom,” page 68). Shorts are also proving to be a trend, from saucy bloomers at Dolce & Gabbana to clean white “knee pants” at Chloé. In “Gam On”
(page 50), Gabrielle Johnson reports it’s all about choosing a length and shape that are right for you.

Pulling yourself together for spring wouldn’t be complete without an arsenal of beauty weapons. We’ve got youth enhancers for every stage of life, from the new CCs (colour correctors) to spot-blasting laser treatments for hands. As Vancouver cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Shehla Ebrahim puts it in “Hand Brake” (page 98), “You never go to war with one gun.”

Well said! I look forward to hearing your feedback on our Age Issue at letters@fashionmagazine.com.

The post May 2013: Letter from the editor appeared first on FASHION Magazine.